Hitachi loses out on £1bn contract to rival Bombardier to supply Crossrail trains

A NORTH-EAST train factory has lost out on a £1bn contract to supply Europe’s biggest construction project.

Hitachi’s factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham was told this morning that rivals, Bombardier, had won the deal to make trains for the new Crossrail commuter line being built across London.

The decision is a blow to the Japanese firm which will open its £82m Aycliffe plant in 2016, employing 730 workers.

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However, the firm has enough work on its books to keep its staff busy until at least 2020, and bosses have stressed that the Crossrail deal was one of several deals it hopes to secure in the coming years.

The Government has already awarded it contracts to make high speed trains for the East Coast and Great Western lines.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the announcement was "great news for Bombardier and Derby" while Business Secretary Vince Cable said it was a "real vote of confidence in British manufacturing".

Three years ago Bombardier lost out to Siemens of Germany on a £1.6bn contract for trains for the Thameslink project.

The Siemens victory came amid much controversy and the German company had also been in the running for the Crossrail contract but dropped out last year, leaving Bombardier to face Hitachi of Japan and CAF of Spain.

The deal, announced today by the Department for Transport and Transport for London, means 65 trains will be built in Derby, with the contract supporting 760 UK manufacturing jobs and 80 apprenticeships.

It also involves the construction of a maintenance depot at Old Oak Common in north-west London which will create 244 jobs and 16 apprenticeships. When fully operational it will support 80 jobs to maintain the new fleet of trains.

Each Crossrail train will be 200 metres long and able to carry up to 1,500 passengers. Key features include air conditioning and inter-connecting walk-through carriages. On-train passenger information systems will deliver real-time travel information to allow passengers to plan their onward journeys.

First mooted in the 1990s but then scrapped on cost grounds only to be revived in the last decade, Crossrail will boost Londons rail capacity by ten per cent.

It will run from as far west as Maidenhead in Berkshire, connecting Heathrow, and Abbey Wood in south London, and going as far east as Shenfield in Essex.

At peak times, there will be up to 24 trains an hour between Paddington in west London and Whitechapel in the City of London.

TfL will introduce the new trains from May 2017, with the fleet progressively introduced to the existing rail network well in advance of services commencing through Crossrails central section in December 2018.

Bombardier managing director Francis Paonessa said the company had spent £20m developing the Aventra train which will be built for the Crossrail route and which will be painted purple and black.

He went on: "We are absolutely delighted with the news, which is a real endorsement of the hard work the team has put in. We have been working on the design for the past year.
"The train has wider gangways, is much lighter and more energy efficient."

London mayor Boris Johnson said the trains would revolutionise rail travel in London, and deliver jobs and economic growth in their birthplace in Derby and across the UK.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the contract was great news for British manufacturing and for Derbyshire while Bob Crow, leader of the RMT union, said it was a fantastic and deserved result for Bombardier.

Julia Long, national officer for the Unite union said: "This is great news for the workforce at Bombardier and for Derby, after the disastrous handling of the Thameslink contract."

Comments

It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer!

It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer!youcantdenythetruth

It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer!

Score: 4

brendastorey50
10:35am Thu 6 Feb 14

youcantdenythetruth wrote…

It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer!

sky news this morning said was a Canadian company

[quote][p][bold]youcantdenythetruth[/bold] wrote:
It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer![/p][/quote]sky news this morning said was a Canadian companybrendastorey50

youcantdenythetruth wrote…

It matters not. At least this time the jobs have stayed in the country - and more importantly, the order has gone to a British manufacturer!

sky news this morning said was a Canadian company

Score: 4

David Lacey
11:18am Thu 6 Feb 14

Bombardier is a multinational with its HQ in Canada. The Hitachi bid may have had to be fulfilled by importing complete trains as in 2017 the new Aycliffe factory will be running at capacity constructing (or assembling if you like) the IEP trains.
.
The Derby factory was not under threat - it constructs 60% of all new UK rolling stock - but will be boosted by this order.

Bombardier is a multinational with its HQ in Canada. The Hitachi bid may have had to be fulfilled by importing complete trains as in 2017 the new Aycliffe factory will be running at capacity constructing (or assembling if you like) the IEP trains.
.
The Derby factory was not under threat - it constructs 60% of all new UK rolling stock - but will be boosted by this order.David Lacey

Bombardier is a multinational with its HQ in Canada. The Hitachi bid may have had to be fulfilled by importing complete trains as in 2017 the new Aycliffe factory will be running at capacity constructing (or assembling if you like) the IEP trains.
.
The Derby factory was not under threat - it constructs 60% of all new UK rolling stock - but will be boosted by this order.

Score: 5

MSG
1:04pm Thu 6 Feb 14

Canadian company Thrall cam to the UK in the early 90's in a blaze of glory. They built thousands of HTA wagons for EWS at Leeman Road York, This was followed by hundreds of HTA wagons for Freightliner, a few smaller freight companies put in orders, then the order book was dry !

I hope Hitachi is ready for this scenario

Canadian company Thrall cam to the UK in the early 90's in a blaze of glory. They built thousands of HTA wagons for EWS at Leeman Road York, This was followed by hundreds of HTA wagons for Freightliner, a few smaller freight companies put in orders, then the order book was dry !
I hope Hitachi is ready for this scenarioMSG

Canadian company Thrall cam to the UK in the early 90's in a blaze of glory. They built thousands of HTA wagons for EWS at Leeman Road York, This was followed by hundreds of HTA wagons for Freightliner, a few smaller freight companies put in orders, then the order book was dry !

I hope Hitachi is ready for this scenario

Score: 2

cushybutterfield
1:24pm Thu 6 Feb 14

Great news for our 'close friends the Canadians' and Britain and all the 'Bombardier workers.'. Britain needs to build up its 'manfacuring base' again after decades of being decimated by 'medevial archiac dinosaur strikes' and practices', , 'work to rule' and 'Go slows' were prime examples........ (God could some of them in the medevial past...... have gone any Slower'.?.

Great news for our 'close friends the Canadians' and Britain and all the 'Bombardier workers.'. Britain needs to build up its 'manfacuring base' again after decades of being decimated by 'medevial archiac dinosaur strikes' and practices', , 'work to rule' and 'Go slows' were prime examples........ (God could some of them in the medevial past...... have gone any Slower'.?.cushybutterfield

Great news for our 'close friends the Canadians' and Britain and all the 'Bombardier workers.'. Britain needs to build up its 'manfacuring base' again after decades of being decimated by 'medevial archiac dinosaur strikes' and practices', , 'work to rule' and 'Go slows' were prime examples........ (God could some of them in the medevial past...... have gone any Slower'.?.

Score: 3

Spy Boy
1:14am Fri 7 Feb 14

The initial power packs were designed, built and tested in Darlington at Cummins, before the work was transferred to Daventry. Good news that it stayed in Britain.

The initial power packs were designed, built and tested in Darlington at Cummins, before the work was transferred to Daventry. Good news that it stayed in Britain.Spy Boy

The initial power packs were designed, built and tested in Darlington at Cummins, before the work was transferred to Daventry. Good news that it stayed in Britain.

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